Noticeboard

## Please note that to assist with winter pressures the surgery may be seeing some patients on a saturday morning with pre-booked appointments on a temporary basis-it will not be open on saturday mornings for any other queries/appointments -these are to be dealt with during normal surgery hours Monday-Friday 8am - 6.30pm

Important - Please note that with effect from 1st January 2018 we can only accept requests for repeat medication via system One online or by the repeat form attached to your prescription. - Please contact the surgery to register for System One Online services -

Appointments

Making an Appointment

Appointments for doctors can be made up to 3 weeks in advance or by telephoning on the day you wish to be seen.(you can book medication reviews up to 6 weeks in advance) There are now appointments available online, you will need to be registered for this service and will need to provide photo ID. Approximately half of all appointments are available to book in advance. Phones are answered from 8.00am and each patient is given an appointment time. We cannot promise to book you with the doctor of your choice nor a specific time, but we will always do our best to accommodate your requests.

All nurse and phlebotomy appointments should be made in advance.

Consultations

Consultations with the doctor can be booked on the day or up to 3 weeks in advance. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that you will be able to see a particular doctor nor at a particular time but we will do our best. Each appointment slot is for 10 minutes, this will normally only allow enough time for one problem to be discussed; please tell the doctor about your most worrying problem.

If you need longer than 10 minutes please ask for a double appointment.

Dr Wakely has surgeries on Thursday and Friday

Dr Ramsay has surgeries on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday

Dr Birn Jeffery has surgeries on Tuesday and Wednesdays

Dr Irwin has a surgery on Mondays

If you wish to speak to a doctor on the telephone, please call after 9.00 am in the morning for a telephone slot, the doctor will then call you back between 12.30 and 1.00pm (where possible) each day. Please note that not all doctors are available everyday and a limited number of slots are available each day..

Please make an appointment with our Nurses or Healthcare Assistants at least a week in advance if possible.

If you have an appointment but discover that you will not be able to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer that slot to another patient.

Home Visits

Home visits are available to you if you are a registered patient. Patients requiring home visits must be housebound because of illness or disability.

If you require a visit, please try to ring before 11.00am to enable the doctor to plan the calls. One doctor does the house calls each day so it is not possible to request a particular doctor to make the visit.

When requesting your visit please give the staff as much information as possible so that the degree of urgency can be ascertained. Please be aware that the doctor will decide if the visit is necessary and may choose to telephone you first to establish the best way of dealing with your problem.

Home visits are available to you if you are a registered patient. Patients requiring home visits must be housebound because of illness or disability.

If the patient has a temperature or a rash, coming to the surgery will do them no harm and will not endanger others, but please let the receptionist know when you arrive.

Visiting is extremely time consuming so please try to attend the practice if possible.

Test Results

Please call between 1pm and 3pm, approximately 3 working days after the test to enquire about your results as our reception staff will have more time to deal with your request between these times.

Note that the practice has a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection and we will only release test results to the person to whom they relate unless that person has given prior permission for the release of this data or they are not capable of understanding the results.

It is your responsibility to check your results and to make an appointment to discuss them with your doctor if your are advised to do so.

Chaperone

Consultations with a doctor can occasionally involve an examination. Sometimes it is appropriate for a chaperone to be present. Please do not be too embarrassed to ask—your comfort is very important to us. The doctor will happily arrange it for you at the time or you can request a chaperone when you book in at reception. It may be appropriate for the doctor to request that a chaperone be present, if this is the case the doctor will ask your permission first.